Blogger: Rachel Zurakowski
Location: Books & Such Main Office, Santa Rosa, Calif.
In college, I minored in Psychology. I find the workings of the mind fascinating and enjoyed all of my Psych. classes. I was doing a little research last week and found some great articles that relate to the psychology of writing. I’d like to share them with you this week and ask for your opinions.
The first article, by Sadie F. Dingfelder, is from the American Psychological Association’s magazine, Monitor on Psychology. This article discusses an experiment done on outlining and its supposed benefit to writing.
Based on previous research showing writing to be a disorderly mental task, Dr. Sarah Ransdell, PhD, did an experiment on writing to see if, “[p]erhaps because of the inherent disorder behind good writing, traditional writing instruction–teaching students to separate planning from writing, and writing from revising–can be counterproductive.”
Dr. Ransdell supposed that good writing requires fluidity–the ability to jump around when new ideas pop into the author’s mind based on old ideas–and that writing will end up stronger if the author forgoes outlining and let’s the planning, writing and revising flow naturally.
In the experiment, 125 students were asked to write three essays. For the first essay, the students wrote the essay as they normally would. For the second essay, the students were instructed on and told to use the “step-by-step” strategy: outline, write, revise. For the third essay, the students were instructed on and told to use the “all-at-once” strategy: planning and revising as they write without outlining ahead of time or revising at the end.
Trained graders scored the essays on a 100-point scale, and the findings were that the “all-at-once” essays scored 5 more points on average than the “step-by-step” essays. (Check out the article for more details.)
In this case, the experiment seems to prove that it’s better to write a project without outlining. Do you agree with these findings? Is writing a book different than writing an essay? How?
Dr. Ronald Kellogg, PhD: “Writing is not just dumping what you know onto a page. You write to transform your abstract thoughts into concrete ones.”
I wrote my first novel by the seat of the pants method, and my third novel by a general outline method. The first has serious structural flaws and still could use some reworking. I think my critique partners would vote for the third novel.
My mind works in an outline sort of way. When pastors have a clear outline, it makes sense to me. But we do need to let the creative juices flow when writing whether there’s a basic outline or not. Those characters still have a lot of room to do their own thing if the outline is a guide only.
Just my personal take.
The seat-of-the-pants writing scored 5% higher “on average”. That’s not much of a margin, really, and I’m sure there were some who did better with an outline. It’s about personality, and I think you should go with your strength. I’m a die-hard SOTP writer, but not by choice. I’ve tried to outline and I can’t do it¬— I can’t see that far. I write like Tarzan, picking out the next vine on the fly based on a vague idea of the general direction I want to go. But some people are uncomfortable with the occasional screaming plummet inherent in the Tarzan method. Typically they’re the same people who live by a budget and navigate by GPS, and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s purely a matter of personality. If you can get a first draft written using an outline, go ahead. There’s no law that says you can’t deviate from the outline, or that you can’t change everything when you’re finished.
Rachel,
Good research is research that bears out our preconceived notions. I consider this to be good research.
I’m strictly seat-of-the pants. When I start, I know the beginning, the crux, and the ending. But along the way I may add things I had no idea of at the start. And I don’t know which of the possibles I’ll tag as the villain until very late in the writing process. After all, if I don’t know, how can the reader?
My first two novels were seat-of-the-pants affairs. For my third, I had a new publisher (William Morrow) and new editor (a great editor). She requested a detailed outline. I devoted a month of time to write 60 pages about what I would write, should write and promised to write. By the time I completed the novel, I had veered off into a whole new (better, I think) vision. She didn’t ask me to write outlines for my next books, and I quit feeling guilty about being a seat-of-the- pants kind of writer.
I lean toward outlines, BUT as a writing teacher know it’s not for everyone. Seriously – some people’s work is drained by the need to outline first.
I think the latter group in the study doing better says a lot about the need for some type of UPFRONT PROCESSING TIME, which even your diehard seat-of-the-pants writers have, but it may happen so quickly and below the radar that they don’t realize it. Whether it’s committed to paper in outline form or not isn’t the point.
Seat-of-the-pants writing is more likely to capture the passion and the authentic voice of the writer. I would not be too hasty in discounting the editing and reorganizing that may need to follow, though.
Such interesting comments!
Teri, I love that you have tried both ways and that you know that it’s best for you to outline first. Thanks for sharing!
Richard, your comment made me laugh! I guess if the author doesn’t know how the book will end, there’s no way the reader can until the end. So is it better to be a SOTP mystery/suspense writer? 🙂
Thank you, Dale. I think your closing thought is so great for all writers: “There’s no law that says you can’t deviate from the outline, or that you can’t change everything when you’re finished.”
Writing involves so much flexibility. I’ve heard from many writers that once the characters have come alive, they can take over the story even if the book’s already been outlined.
In writing as in life, I often don’t see how the pieces fit to present a theme until near the end of an experience. I loved the way Dale described “writing like Tarzan,” complete with screaming plummets. As a SOTP writer, I do have an idea where the story is going, but much of the processing happens internally.
As a reader it takes away from my enjoyment when I can detect the outline of the story. It’s almost like a spoiler that gives away the surprises and the ending.
Just wondering…if an editor tends to be more of the “outline first” personality, do you think that would affect the sorts of books that appealed to them most readily? Might they gravitate toward stories where the structure was more obvious up front?
This whole discussion is hugely comforting to those of us to whom an outline feels like a straight-jacket. Thank you. I agree: it’s personality. Some freak out without an outline; others suffocate with one. To each his/her own.
I’m contracted for a book nearly due on my editor’s desk, and as I rewrite through chapters for the glorious 1872nd time, I keep wondering: wouldn’t this all be much easier if I outlined a book?
But the caveat? I write to discover what I think.
And as T.S. wrote:
“If the word ‘inspiration’ is to have any meaning, it must mean … that the speaker … is uttering something that he does not wholly understand.”
Thus, why I can’t outline… and why your post today is one of very encouraging read!
Back to work! 🙂
What Dale and Bill said . . . from a SOTPer.
I lived nine years on a missions base where we took turns with Sunday morning preaching. One friend who sat in the front row and outlined every sermon as it was given finally put her notes aside and just listened when I spoke. She told me, “You are always so interesting to listen to, but I can never manage to outline it.” I think she outlined everyone else. When I teach writing to my junior high students I teach organizational methods (not always outlining), because they need it. But when I write or speak, I go with seat-of-the-pants. I say, write the way God made you.
I wonder what the margin of error is on the study. 5 points is nothing (or not significant) if the margin is 8. Anyhow, there are times when I wish I were more of the Tarzan kind of writer. But I find writing to be so much the “disorderly mental task” that I need an outline to make both sense and progress. If I don’t know where I’m going, I wander off in so many directions and never reach anywhere at all.
That said, I don’t stick to my outline rigidly. I have changed everything from main character to major plot points. There is still a lot of room for creativity. But the outline allows me to compare the new ideas with the old ones, and see which comes out stronger.
The best method for me is a compromise; make a vague, general outline so I know where I’m going, but fill in the details as I go, and don’t be afraid to change the outline if I think of something better. I’ve tried both extremes and neither worked well. SOTP ended up with a worthless book and when I finished the detailed outline I was so bored with the story I never wrote that one. But everyone’s different so other methods may work best for other people. Maybe those students were sick of outlining everything for college classes and their brains needed a change.
I use what I would call a “frame” method. I write out the story in about 20 pages, so I know what I’m writing towards and what I want to say. I use that as the framework when I set up the pacing and the chapters. I’m then free to write the actual tale within that basic framework. That’s in fiction, of course.
But the characters will surprise you. I was halfway through a novel when a chicken walked into the scene. The characters and I all turned to look at it. They didn’t say much, but I knew what it meant–three days researching chickens.
And to my delighted surprise several weeks later, that chicken was the turning point in the story.
I was just thinking of this over Christmas while working on a jigsaw puzzle with my children. My youngest child – an impulsive sort – grabs any old two pieces and sees if they fit, gradually building chunks. I, on the other hand, carefully sort out the corner and edge pieces, put the outline together, then work on motifs in the puzzle, then fill in the background.
You guessed it – I’m an outline writer. The initial brainstorming of the story is an SOTP process, but then I must outline. If I don’t, I end up with 200,000 words of drivel. However, once I’m writing within my outline, my characters still take off and do their own things – and I follow them. They know what they’re doing.